Is Reed College really so hard?

MyrtleD
Fri, 31 Jul 2020 15:46:10 +0000

Agree wholeheartedly with previous post. My son is a sophomore at Reed. He is very academically oriented and hopes to be a biology professor some day. His idea of fun is discussing philosophy over dinner with a variety of students from other disciplines, or playing in the jazz band. Organized sports isn’t a thing. Frat parties don’t exist. He has a diverse group of men and women that he hangs out with, but for all of them, academics comes first. They don’t seem intimidated by the hard work, and look forward to being challenged. They all call their professors by their first names, which elevates them almost to the status of colleague. To fulfill that role they feel a responsibility to know their stuff and hold up their end of class discussions. My son took a music history course his freshman year because it was rumored to be the hardest course on campus. It was hard, but also the professor was great, the material was interesting, history and philosophy were integrated into the course along with studying the music itself, the class was very small, and he enjoyed the experience immensely. He is planning to take a religion course on Islam in the fall because the professor is one of the nation’s experts on the subject, is a great teacher, and the issues discussed have so much relevance in our society today. He feels if he is to be a leader in an academic role he needs to know how factors like gender, religion, history, philosophy etc. influence and shape our beliefs, our thinking, our politics, our knowledge.
The professors are top notch, well published, well educated at top colleges and universities, and are crazy open to mentoring students. He has already lined up a mentor for his biology work/senior thesis as well as a mentor for his sub-field of philosophy of biology. Both his mentors have collaborated together on academic work themselves. A biology professor called my son up and offered him a fellowship for the summer doing DNA sequencing research from home this summer. He learned a ton from this experience, and as an extra bonus, will likely have his name on a publication as a result.
My son says there are two general types of people at Reed. Those who “get it” and are seeking it’s academic intensity, and those who think of Reed as a safety school. The latter folks tend to be part of the 20% of the population that drop out or transfer. They just don’t fit in this intense academic environment.